Two-goal hero Wayne Rooney hailed a 'psychological' victory over rivals Manchester City in the FA Cup on Sunday.
Manchester United ran out 3-2 winners at the Etihad Stadium to advance to the fourth round of the FA Cup.
United had held a comfortable 3-0 lead at half-time before a second-half City fightback, led by Kolarov and Aguero, almost saw them force a replay.
However, Rooney said the victory puts his side in good stead for the second half of the season, where they must catch City in the fight for the league title.
Rooney told ITV: "We want to go far in the FA Cup this year. If we could win today we would have knocked one of the better teams out and give ourselves a bit more of a chance."
"Psychologically, winning here will be great for us [as we play them again] in the third-to-last game of the season."
"We knew it was going to be a difficult game today and obviously going 3-0 up we took our foot off the gas a little bit."
"City got two goals and we had to make sure we saw the game out which we managed to do so."
"As a team we played really well. We defended excellently and got ourselves into shape and hit them on the counter. Thankfully it worked."
Rooney said the players had no prior knowledge of Paul Scholes' return but praised the quality of the veteran.
"It was a bit of a shock, to be honest. We didn't know until we were in the dressing room."
"It's great. It gave everyone a lift. He's a fantastic player and showed his quality when he came on."